【Epitaxy Papers】Microstructural, optical, and electrical properties of Si-doped Ga₂O₃ thin films deposited via pulsed laser deposition under oxygen-deficient conditions

      Researchers from Foshan University have published a dissertation titled " Microstructural, optical, and electrical properties of Si-doped Ga₂O₃ thin films deposited via pulsed laser deposition under oxygen-deficient conditions " in Journal of Alloys and Compounds.

Abstract

      Deep-ultraviolet (DUV) transparent conductive electrodes (TCE) are crucial for next-generation ultraviolet optoelectronic devices, but achieving both high DUV transparency and high conductivity remains challenging. While the mainstream Ga₂O₃-based UV transparent conductive films rely on a sufficient oxygen flow to control the density of oxygen vacancies, this study achieves Si-doped β-Ga₂O₃ (SGO) thin films under oxygen-deficient conditions via pulsed laser deposition. It is revealed that the oxygen-vacancy density and the crystallinity of the SGO samples can be effectively tuned via the growth temperature. The SGO sample grown at 800 °C exhibit an average UVC transmittance up to 38.8% compared to those lower than 30% in mainstream literature owing to the high crystallinity, whereas the SGO sample fabricated at 650 °C shows a resistivity of only 4.70E-3 Ω·cm and a carrier concentration as high as 1.94E21 /cm³ as a result of the high oxygen vacancy density. Although the carrier density along with the oxygen vacancy are reduced in SGO samples grown under high substrate temperatures, Si-doping still contributes necessary carriers. The SGO film grown at 800 °C with a UVC Haacke’s figure of merit of 8.19E-9 Ω^⁻¹ demonstrates advantages over mainstream Ga₂O₃-based candidates for deep-UV optoelectronics.

DOI：

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2026.191031